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In complex contemporary societies social science has become increasingly interwoven into the whole fabric of governance. At the same time there is an increasing recognition that attempts to understand the social world which seek to mimic the linear approaches of the conventional ‘hard sciences’ are mostly useless given the complex systems character of society in all its aspects. This book draws on a synthesis of critical realism and complexity theory to examine how social science is applied now and how it might be applied in the future in relation to social transformation in a time of crisis. A central argument is that there is no such thing as a ‘pure’ science of the social and that recognition of the inevitability of application imposes obligations on social scientists, wherever they work, which challenge the passivity of most in the face of inequality and injustice.

The turn to biographical methods in social science is yielding a rich harvest of research outcomes and invigorating the relationship between policy and practice. This book uses a range of interpretive approaches to reveal the dynamics of service users' and professionals' individual experiences. It shows how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the learning and development of professionals, and promote more meaningful and creative practitioner-service user relationships. The book reviews applications of biographical methods in both policy and practice in a range of professional contexts, from health and social care to education and employment. In addition, it explores the impact on professional practice of social change in three main arenas: transformation from Eastern to Western types of society in Europe, major shifts in social and welfare principles, experiences of immigration and of new cultural diversity. The book critically evaluates subjective and reflexive processes in interactions between researchers, practitioners and users of services, and considers the institutional arrangements and cultural contexts which support effective and sensitive interventions and encourage change in the lives of individuals.

This sociological collection advances the argument that the concepts of “biography” and "turning point" expand our understanding of life experiences from a descriptive to a deeper, more abstract level of analysis. Theoretically, the collection addresses the manifold ways that we might refine the concept of “turning point” since Anselm Strauss introduced the notion in his 1959 book, Mirrors and Masks: The Search for Identity. The book addresses the conceptual issue of what distinguishes turning points from ages, stages, and life transitions in general and raises crucial questions about the application of turning points as a biographical research method and advances a dialogue with concepts offered by theorists from Andrew Abbott to Max Weber. Biography and turning points in Europe and America distinctive and significant due to its broad empirical database. It includes scholars’ work from nine different countries (Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, the United States and Venezuela), providing a number of contexts (from repudiating gang violence in Venezuela to constructing family narratives in lesbian lives in Britain) for thinking about how turning points relate to biography in an era following the narrative turn. The contributors articulate increasingly globalized concerns in the Western world regarding the identities and simultaneously structuration forces of gender, race-ethnicity, class, sexuality, migration, detention and religion – while they remain, nevertheless, grounded in the unique nations and communities included here. This enables sensitivity to variable constructs of significance that are associated with turning points—from bifurcation and biography to narrative and discursive analysis. In sum, this collection aims to advance a dialogue on turning points in the context of new developments in theory and method.

Statistical data and evidence-based claims are increasingly central to our everyday lives. Critically examining ‘Big Data’, this book charts the recent explosion in sources of data, including those precipitated by global developments and technological change. It sets out changes and controversies related to data harvesting and construction, dissemination and data analytics by a range of private, governmental and social organisations in multiple settings. Analysing the power of data to shape political debate, the presentation of ideas to us by the media, and issues surrounding data ownership and access, the authors suggest how data can be used to uncover injustices and to advance social progress

Using insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict across the world, this book provides essential practical guidance, discussion of mistakes, key reflections and raises important questions for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent and closed contexts. Chapters detail personal experiences from areas including the Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Myanmar, inviting readers into their reflections on mistakes and hard-learned lessons. Divided into sections on issues of control and confusion, security and risk, distance and closeness and sex and sensitivity, the chapters look at how to negotiate complex grey areas and raise important questions that intervention researchers need to consider before, during and after their time on the ground.

This book explores the extent to which rights to welfare are related to human inter-dependency on the one hand and the ethics of responsibility on the other. Its intention is to kick-start a fresh debate about the moral foundations of social policy and welfare reform. The book explores the concepts of dependency, responsibility, rights, and their significance for social citizenship; draws together findings from a range of recent research that has investigated popular political welfare provider and welfare user discourses; discusses, in a UK context, the relevance of the recent Human Rights Act for social policy, and presents arguments in favour of a human rights based approach to social welfare.

The initial enthusiasm for the evidence-based policy agenda has recently been replaced with increasing scepticism. Critics point out that ‘policy-based evidence’ characterises the relationship more accurately. Analysing the role and nature of evidence in the context of UK drug policy and drawing on a range of theories of the policy process and research utilisation, this book pursues an alternative route for conceptualising the evidence and policy connection, which moves beyond zero-sum statements of evidence-based policy and policy-based evidence.

Unlike previous volumes on the subject of ‘doing’ conflict fieldwork, this book does not delineate a clear ‘how to’ toolset for undertaking conflict related research but rather requires the contributors to cast a critical eye on their own research praxis. It brings together scholars working in/on conflict, and through personal accounts of their experiences working in spaces of conflict, explores the role of emotion, violence, uncertainty, identity and positionality within the process of doing research as well as the complexity of methodological choices. This volume thus seeks to go beyond academic-centric conversations about how we can achieve rigour or handle our data collection and rather it aims to draw out the broader implications of such research efforts. By doing so it presents a more nuanced and grounded view of conflict research that is unapologetic and unafraid to demystify and declare the messiness that is inherent in the process of research in/on violence and the potential for violence of research itself.

We are all ‘glass consumers’. Organisations know so much about us they can almost see through us. Governments and businesses collect and process our personal information on a massive scale. Everything we do, and everywhere we go, leaves a trail. But is this in our interests? This book appraises this relentless scrutiny of consumers' lives. It reviews what is known about how personal information is used and examines the benefits and risks to consumers. The book takes the debate beyond privacy issues, arguing that we are living in a world in which — more than ever before — our personal information defines our opportunities in life.

This book moves forward the narrative of service user experience and research involvement, using a sociological perspective on experiential knowledge and academic research. It examines the difficulty of having mental health knowledge accepted when it is produced outside traditional scientific settings. It examines how identity shapes knowledge production. It asks why voices which challenge contemporary beliefs about health and the role of treatment are often silenced. It considers ways of ‘doing research’ which bring multiple understandings together effectively. The dangers present in the imbalances of power are addressed frankly, as is the need to be aware of them and to develop ways of working collaboratively to address them. The book also asks a fundamental question: to what extent and to what avail may those with less power collaborate with those with more? All the writers have an academic background and most of them are also service users/ survivors. Their fields of expertise include LGB issues, racial tensions, and recovering from the shame and stigma of alcoholism. They stress the importance of research approaches which involve mutualities of respect and understanding within the worlds of researcher, clinician and service user/survivor.

This book examines the nature of participatory research in the social sciences and its role in increasing participation among vulnerable or marginalised populations. What is meant and understood by vulnerability and participation are issues that are explored in detail in the book, from both the perspectives of researchers and participants alike. Drawing on engaging, in-depth case studies, it examines the ways in which inclusion and collaboration in research can be enhanced among vulnerable participants, such as those with profound learning difficulties, victims of abuse and trauma and multiply vulnerable children and young people, and demonstrates the value and effectiveness of participatory research methods with these groups. Such methods include participatory visual and narrative approaches that help to enhance both participation and emancipation among vulnerable, marginalised populations (including young carers, people with learning difficulties, women victims-survivors of domestic violence) in research processes. The different ethical challenges that arise when conducting participatory research with these groups are also examined in detail in the book and a Participatory Model is also proposed to assist researchers in managing and using participatory research methods in their working practices. The book will be an invaluable resource for research methods students, researchers and academics in many countries who want to put participatory research methods into practice.

Evaluation has become a central tool in the development of contemporary social policy. Its widespread popularity is based on the need to provide evidence of the effectiveness of policies and programmes. This book sees evaluation as an inherently political activity, as much about forms of governance as scientific practice. Using a wide range of examples from neighbourhood renewal, health and social care, and other aspects of social policy, it relates practical issues in evaluation design to their political contexts. The book considers key issues in the politics of evaluation including governance and evaluation, participatory evaluation, partnerships and evaluation, and learning from evaluation.

There's a growing pressure for social workers to engage with research and draw on this in practice. But why is this research important? This book provides an accessible way to think about this question. Drawing on evidence from across Europe, Asia, and the USA, it covers how research is conducted, used, and perceived. It is perfect for social work students, researchers, and practitioners, providing a detailed sketch of how research finds a place in the wider social work picture and offering opportunities and exercises that highlight how social work research is relevant in day-to-day course programmes and practice. The book will embolden a kind of scepticism, while at the same time providing the ground work for social workers to become more thoughtfully practical and practically thoughtful.

This book examines the role of participants in research, and how research ethics can be put into practice. Specifically, the book discusses the ethical regulations and guidance governing researchers in different disciplines, analyses case studies of innovative research projects where ethics have been central to the researcher-subject relationship, assesses the impact of ethics on research methods and approaches, provides useful comparisons of research conducted by professionals and service-users, and offers a unique insight into research participants' perspectives, which are so often absent in discussions of research ethics.

Social Policy Review 15 continues the tradition of providing a different style and approach to policy issues from that found in most academic journals and books. This volume combines issues such as globalization, Europe, and pensions with examination of the current and historical contexts of social policy. Chapters have been purposely chosen to review a varied and interesting selection of topical social policy developments and to set these in a broader context of key trends and debates.

This ‘new look’ edition is designed to provide readers with up-to-date information about developments and changes in core UK social policy areas. Additional chapters provide in-depth analyses of topical issues in the UK and internationally, while the new themed section examines the changes that have taken place in UK welfare since the first Thatcher government came to power.

Social Policy Review 17 provides students, academics, and all those interested in welfare issues with detailed analyses of progress and change in areas of major interest during the past year. Contributions reflect key developments in the UK and internationally, and focus on developments and change in core UK social policy areas. Additional chapters provide in-depth analyses of topical issues in both a UK and international perspective. This year's themed section is New Labour.

This book provides all those interested in welfare issues with detailed analyses of progress and change in areas of major interest during the past year. Bringing together a selection of commissioned pieces, the Review is organised in three parts. First, it concentrates on the main policy developments during 2005 in relation to five key areas of welfare provision, both in the UK and internationally. The second part, this year concentrating on the theme of health and well-being, draws on current research to explore key policy issues and challenges. The final section explores employment and later life — an often neglected area of social policy, yet one that will increasingly dominate the contemporary news agenda and which has long-term implications for social policy.

Social Policy Review provides students, academics, and all those interested in welfare issues with critical analyses of progress and change in areas of major interest during the past year. Contributions reflect key themes in the UK and internationally. The first part of the collection focuses on developments and change in core UK social policy areas. Part two provides in-depth analyses of topical issues from both UK and international perspectives, while this year's themed section examines migration and social policy.

This book provides anyone interested in welfare issues with critical analyses of progress and change in areas of major interest during the past year. Contributions reflect key themes in the UK and internationally. The first part of the collection focuses on developments and change in core UK social policy areas. Part two provides in-depth analyses of topical issues from both UK and international perspectives, while this year's themed section examines ‘Gender and policy’.